A Family Friendly Cottage Stay, Isle of Lewis

I have been getting itchy feet for a while and couldn’t wait until we could get away from everyday routine for a while. I love going abroad, but I also enjoy a good staycation too. So I was rather excited when Embrace Scotland arranged a stay in a lovely cottage on the Isle of Lewis for a week!

27 Garenin

The cottage we were staying in is located on the West coast of Lewis, just North of Callanish standing stones and around 30 minutes from Stornoway.

27 Garenin is an updated 1950’s cottage situated a 5 minute walk from the Gearannan Blackhouse Village. This also makes it incredibly easy to find! Just follow the signs for the blackhouse village until you are a little way past the lovely Blue Pig shop and you’ll find it.

Outside the house is a small enclosed garden area. Perfect for children to run off any excess energy or to admire the views over the surrounding area. We had several days of beautifully sunny weather with up to 26 degrees temperature and made the most of the evenings in the garden.

Family Friendly Cottage

Entering the property through the front door you walk through a small porch area and then into a bright, modern kitchen. It’s light and airy with plenty of cupboard space and a breakfast bar. There are all the modern appliances you would expect, including a washing machine, dryer, oven, dishwasher and microwave, plus all the usual kitchen items.

From the kitchen you walk into a lounge with it’s open fire (coal and kindling provided) and a large window looking out at the beautiful view across the fields. There is a new television with built-in DVD player, so you can easily entertain the kids if you need some wind down time snuggling up together with a film. Although, you may well be too busy exploring the local area! There’s no wifi at the moment, although the owner is working on adding this in the near future. If you need to get connected there are several local places with free wifi.

The heating is on a timer and is particularly good, we never felt cold in the property. Although we did put the fire on one evening when it was a little windy (but mostly because I wanted a photo for here!).

There are 3 bedrooms (2 twins and 1 double) all clean and spacious with comfy beds. Extra blankets were available and there were plenty of towels in each room for baths and showers. The bathroom has an over-the-bath shower, toilet and sink.

If you would like to see more from inside the cottage, then watch my video of 27 Garenin below.

Local Area

The Blackhouse Village is only a 5 minute walk down toward the coast and the perfect place for a little explore of traditional houses in Lewis. There is also a lovely little cafe and gift shop at the Blackhouse Village. The staff are all very friendly and we loved seeing how the Harris Tweed is made. The Gearannan beach is just below and although it is mainly stones and pebbles there was more than enough sand for the kids to play on.

The lady in the shop at the Blackhouse Village also pointed us in the direction of some other great local sandy beaches. We visited Dalmor and Dalbeg beaches, both are stunning and were fairly quiet when we visited.

The Blue Pig Shop a short walk down to the main road is full of gorgeous pieces of art. From paintings to felt pots and clay beads. I loved everything in there and was pleased to see they take bank cards as I didn’t have enough cash for all the purchases I wanted! The owners are also very friendly and great sources of local information.

A few minutes south in the car takes you to Dun Carloway Broch and visitor centre and 10 minutes away are the Callanish Standing Stones. Both of which are worth a visit to learn more about the history of the area.

Whilst staying at the cottage we visited most of the main areas of Lewis and nowhere was more than a 45 minute drive away. The cottage is definitely in a great central location to visit the island. I also loved how friendly all the locals are, stopping to chat when you’re walking through the village.

Have a peek at 27 Garenin’s website here, don’t be surprised if you find yourself booking a stay! If you are booking do quote Monkey and Mouse for a £25 discount, there are still a few weeks available in Autumn.

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* We stayed in the cottage free of charge for the purpose of this post, however all opinions and recommendations are my own.